What beautiful poems, both the originals by the "should be famous" Harlem Renaissance poets as well as Nikki Grimes excellent Golden Shovel reinterpretations of them. As a children's librarian, I am already well familiar with Ms. Grimes work and I am a real fan of her talent. Yet, I am also an English major - so how is it I've never heard of any of these wonderful female poets from the Harlem Renaissance? I am honestly not a poetry fan, yet I truly enjoyed each of these pieces and wonder why I've never heard of a single one of these women before. It is truly commendable of Ms. Grimes to use her talents to help raise awareness of these wonderful voices.

I think this is an excellent poetry book for young teens, and I can see it used expertly in a classroom setting just as easily as I can see it being read for pleasure by a child in their leisure time (not something I'd often say about a book of poetry). Nikki Grimes' Golden Shovel poems are not only excellent on their own merits, but they also serve to bring a fresh/modern voice that serves to highlight the central theme of the original poem. Not a small feat in any work, yet she does this very well.

Am I gushing? I'm just really impressed! Thank you very much for sharing this book in exchange for review.

Beautiful artwork and sentiments! Meaningful, connected poetry. Informative and important brief background on The Harlem Renaissance.

A definition must add to the library collection!

Experience the largely unsung voices of the women poets of the Harlem Renaissance in this new collection of breathtaking poetry from Nikki Grimes. Despite their unparalleled artistry and brilliance, these women have seldom been met with the same visibility as their male counterparts. LEGACY: WOMEN POETS OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE seeks to remedy this historical erasure by introducing readers to these masterful women and their work. Following each original poem from artists like Helene Johnson, Anne Spencer, and so many more, are new pieces from Nikki Grimes inspired by the former. Using the “Golden Shovel” method, Grimes creates fresh poems which include lines or fragments from the works of these women poets. Accompanied by gorgeous artwork from current celebrated Black women illustrators, this selection of revolutionary poetry can’t be missed.

All I can say is...wow. From start to finish, LEGACY: WOMEN POETS OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE is a stunning work of art, history, and voice. With a foreword from Grimes, an introduction to the Harlem Renaissance and the Gold Shovel form, followed by three sections of poetry and artwork which are then capped off by poet and illustrator biographies, reading this collection was a transformative experience. Some of my favorite poems include “Room for Dreams,” “Judgement,” and “Flag Salute,” though it’s extremely difficult to choose as every single page, poem, and illustration deserves celebration in its own right. LEGACY is a fantastic introduction to the women’s voices of the Harlem Renaissance, both commemorating and inspiring readers to learn more about their groundbreaking artistic contributions.

(Pine Reads Review would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing us with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes are taken from an advanced copy and may be subject to change upon final publication.)

Nikki Grimes has done it again! "Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance" is a stunning collection of poems written by people whose voices are all too often left out of our discussion and exploration of the Harlem Renaissance. The women of the Harlem Renaissance have not been taught or highlighted as much as their male counterparts, a mirror of so many different elements of our society. Nikki Grimes set out to curate a collection of works from women who were part of this movement of writers, artists, and musicians but who were not often included in the conversation.

The collection is laid out in three different parts: Heritage, Earth Mother, and Taking Notice. The themes of identity, environment, and activism are prominent and powerful. A really unique addition to this collection, however, is Grimes' employment of the Golden Shovel. Essentially, she takes one line from each poem and creates her own poem, with each line ending with one of the words from that phrase. So, in addition to the poetry from legends like Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Jessie Redmon Fauset, and Esther Popel, we also get to read Grimes' poetic response to or elaboration on each one. It's a masterpiece that will allow younger readers the chance not only to see how important Black womxn's voices were during the Harlem Renaissance, but also how important they continue to be. This is a collection that shows us that we can honor the past while not ignoring the future. It is a collection that truly celebrates Black writers, Black communities, and Black futures. I cannot recommend this collection enough!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance e-copy of Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance.

I am a huge fan of Nikki Grimes. I enjoy her books of poetry, as well as her novels in verse. I know that the golden shovel type of poetry is very hard so knowing this the poems stand out even more in their beauty. I love that she is introducing Black women from the Harlem Renaissance because I am sure many are unknown to children and adults alike. I enjoyed seeing the poems she took her lines and inspiration from for her own poetry. I also loved the art work by Black women artists. As I turned the pages I gasped at some of the art it was that beautiful. This is a great introduction to Black women poets that will hopefully spark an interest to delve deeper. This would work as a great read-aloud.

Nikki Grimes makes a significant contribution to the archival recovery of important Black women poets. As Grimes notes, scholarship and literary collections focused on the Harlem Renaissance is dominated by Black male authors. Giving voice to the authenticity of these Harlem Renaissance women poets and their poetry through LEGACY centralizes the importance of literary recovery work. Grimes also shows readers the crafting of found poems and the poetic form of the Golden Shovel. The illustrations in the collection were vivid in detail and color, enhancing the subject conveyed through the different poems. LEGACY makes for an enjoyable reading experience and as a teaching tool for creative writing.

Innovative "Golden Shovel" poetic form first highlights a poem from various Harlem Renaissance women poets before Grimes creates a new poem in which each line ends with one word from a line or stanza of the highlighted poem resulting in both celebration and transformation of the original work. Breathtaking full color illustrations complement the pairings. Highly suggested as an addition to a school library collection.

A lovely and important collection that belongs in every school and public library and would make an excellent gift for anyone. It's one of those books you'll treasure and find yourself returning to very often. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to review this book.

In her new collection of poetry, legendary poet and author Nikki Grimes introduces readers to the poetry form of, Golden Shovel. This is a fun, challenging, and very creative form of poetry writing! Golden Shovel takes an entire poem, or a line from a poem, to create a whole new poem! The process begins by placing the words from the original poem in the right margin, with each line of the new poem ending in a word from the original poem! Trying my hand at this style I used a poetic verse from Grime's book, Garvey's Choice, titled, "Summer Lost and Found" I chose the line, "Stories are breadcrumbs," to create my new poem:

We are our STORIES
Our stories we ARE
Everything else is just BREADCRUMBS

Grimes creates her Golden Shovel poems by using the original poetry of prominent women poets of the Harlem Renaissance! This collection features the poetry of Helen Johnson, Angelina Weld Grimké, Mae V. Cowdery, Jessie Redmon Fauset, Esther Popel, Gertrude Parthenia McBrown, Effie Lee Newsome, Georgia Douglas Johnson, and many more!

While all of the poems, both original and new, are intriguing and thought-provoking, so too are the illustrations included after each poem! Beautiful, vibrant, and stunning illustrations from artist such as Vanessa Brantley-Newton, Nina Crews, Pat Cummings, Laura Freeman, Cozbi Cabrera, Vashti Harrison, Ekau Holmes, and others will simply take your breath away!

The poems included in this collection will encourage and inspire creative thinking and writing, and will leave the reader wanting to create poems of their own!

Grimes provides the reader with background information and historical significance of the Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance in the forward of the book. Biographies of all of the poets and illustrators is also included afterward.

This book is a treasure and introduces readers to the many outstanding women of the Harlem Renaissance. Nikki Grimes combines poetry from the Harlem Renaissance with her own poetry to create a story of a girl discovering forgotten African American women poets . What makes this collection unique is that Grimes uses the Golden Shovel method to create her own poems while also introducing other forms of poetry. The Golden Shovel method is where you take a short poem in its entirety, or a line or words from a poem, to create a new poem using those words from the original. At the end of the book, Grimes provides a biography about each woman recognized in the book. It gives this collection further authenticity to read about the inspiring stories of these women and the impact they made during that time.

Merit: The gorgeous illustrations add another layer of beauty to this poetry collection.

Verdict: This is one of those books we should have in all of our school libraries..

Thank you Netgalley and Bloomsbury Children's Books for the e-ARC.

This is a striking book. The illustrations are jaw droppingly beautiful, they are pure art in their own right. The collection of work from female poets of the Harlem Renaissance is also well done. The combination of those poems and illustrations could have been enough for a beautiful book. Grimes, however, takes the work further with her "golden shovel" poetry. It adds a layer of interest and development to the work that would have been missing otherwise.
"I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

An essential, timely collection from Nikki Grimes. Full of fascinating, beautiful poetry. Will be a first purchase for my library's collection.

My favorite study in college was the writers of the Harlem Renaissance. This collection took me back to that time but in such an important way. The women of that time were not given the space to let their work shine. I loved becoming familiar with these women and seeing the world through their eyes. I loved even more the connection that Nikki was able to make to the past and present by using the Golden Shovel method in her poems. This collection does the important work of highlighting the Black women writers of the Harlem Renaissance but also connecting them to the struggles that still persist today for those women.

Nikki Grimes raises up the women poets of the Harlem Renaissance in such a beautiful and eloquent way. We often remember men poets of that era, but very rarely do we remember, recognize, and relish the words of women like Gwendolyn Bennett, Mae V. Cowdery, Blanche Taylor Dickinson, and other countless women poets.

This book teaches you of various poem styles that these women tackled gracefully, all while soaking in the meaning and voice of each and every one of them. For each poem that is featured in this book, Nikki Grimes uses the Golden Shovel form to create her own poem. If you do not know, the Golden Shovel is where you take a short poem in its entirety, or a line from a poem (known as a striking line), then you create a new poem using those words from the original. This is what makes the book so unique. She is voicing the outstanding poems from outstanding women of the Harlem Renaissance and she, too, is creating breathtaking poetry. I loved that at the end she gives a biography to learn about each and every woman recognized in this book. It was inspiring to hear their stories and learn more about them and the impact they made during that time.

This book is absolutely tremendous! I read Nikki Grimes' One Last Word a few years ago and I was really impressed by the poetic form, but it felt a bit uneven. This collection uses that same poetic form and completely blew me away. Every single poem is so strong and the source material Grimes is working from is incredible. I am absolutely going to look up every single one of these poets and read more of their work! This book features quite a few illustrations that are absolutely breathtaking, and most of them are absolutely lovely. There were a few that are still to come, and the illustrator bios are also TK so I will 100% be picking up the print version to see who did my favorite illustrations and read more about the amazing contributors. Everything about this is so wonderful, I can't wait until it hits shelves and I can book talk it into the hands of every kid I see.

A great companion to One Last Word focusing on female poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Grimes use of the golden shovel format is used well; paying tribute to the original poem while also creating something new.

Great book of poetry celebrating African American women. Love the format, the illustrations that are in the ARC were wonderful and the new format of poems Grimes uses is great. Includes resources and short biographies at the end.

First sentence from the preface: For centuries, accomplished women, of all races, have fallen out of the historical records. In the music realm, for example, we’ve long known and lauded the name and compositions of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but few are familiar with his equally gifted sister, Maria Anna Mozart, an accomplished instrumentalist and composer in her own right. In the sciences, we were taught the names of astronauts like John Glenn, but few could recite the names of early NASA scientists, mathematicians, and engineers like Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Christine Darden, who helped to make Glenn’s successful orbit of the earth possible. It took the Oscar-nominated Hollywood movie Hidden Figures, based on a book by Margot Lee Shetterly, to bring these groundbreaking women to light. Going further back in time, Hatshepsut, the only female pharaoh, all but disappeared from history until recent years. It should come as no surprise, then, that the names of gifted, even prolific, women poets of the Harlem Renaissance are little known, especially as compared to their male counterparts.

Premise/plot: Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance is a companion to her poetry collection, One Last Word. In this collection--told within a framework of a young girl discovering women poets of the Harlem Renaissance--readers read classic poems from the Harlem Renaissance and new poems by Nikki Grimes. Grimes uses the poetic format Golden Shovel.

It includes poems by the following writers: Mae V. Cowdery, Helene Johnson, Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Clarissa Scott Delany, Angelina Weld Grimké, Gertrude Parthenia McBrown , Anne Spencer, Jessie Redmon Fauset, Ida Rowland, Esther Popel, Effie Lee Newsome, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Blanche Taylor Dickinson, Lucy Ariel Williams, and Gwendolyn Bennett.

My thoughts: I loved, loved, loved, loved, loved, LOVED this collection. I loved reading the older poems. I loved Grimes' new poems as well. I'd describe the collection as exquisite, compelling, wonderful.

I read an ARC of the book. (It's not due to be published until 2021 according to GoodReads). My favorite poem is Prelude by Lucy Ariel Williams.

"I know how a volcano must feel with molten lava Smoldering in its breast. Tonight thoughts, wild thoughts, Are smoldering In the very depths Of my being. I would hold them within me If I could. I would give them form If I could. I would make of them Something beautiful If I could. But they will not be formed; They will not be shaped. I must pour them out thus, Like molten lava. Shape them into beautiful dreams If you can. I know how a volcano must feel."

Thanks Net Galley for the eARC of this book. This books is simply breathtaking. Nikki Grimes combines poetry from the Harlem Renaissance with her own poetry to create a beautiful story of a young girl discovering the women poets that are featured. The poetry is deeply moving and addresses feminism and often forgotten African American poets. The preface does a great job setting up the book by showcasing examples of how women of all races are often over looked in historical accounts and the arts. The poems are accompanied by breathtaking artwork. It is shorter in length but I really enjoyed taking my time reading each of the poems and taking in the lines one by one. My favorite poems were " Mother to Daughter" and "Four Walls".